Moving on Truck Stops

From Love’s to Pilot Flying J

According to the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, more than 2,500 truck stops dot the U.S. highway landscape.

From mom-and-pop operations to national chains, these stops provide fuel, food, rest, and often repair facilities. And you don’t need to be a trucker to enjoy the sometimes stellar reputations for good dining.

You want to put a positive spin on an issue, you call it a “challenge” and not a “problem.” However you spin it, consensus is that we don’t have enough parking spots for our commercial vehicle drivers.

So, and with our valued drivers firmly in mind, we really like it when Love’s Travel Stops announces plans for the year, which includes:

• 20-25 new locations
• 1,500-2,000 new parking spaces for trucks
• upgrading 35-40 aging stores
• adding 50 new service bays
• installing electric charging stations at 29 sites

And we really like it when Pilot Flying J announces they’ve just completed renovations and upgrades of more than a hundred travel centers.

Pilot Flying J has more than 870 Pilot, Flying J and One9 locations in 44 states and in six Canadian provinces.”

Love’s has 644 locations in 42 states.

TravelCenters of America has some 270 full-service locations in 44 states and Canada.

In the often bizarre roller coaster that is the nation’s supply-and-demand shift, certain things remain fairly consistent. Like the need to fill a fuel tank and a stomach, to check our tires and oil, to rest and stretch our legs.

What sweetens the equation is that government grants help expand the truck stop scenario. $70 million for hydrogen fuel stations in north Texas. $5 million for biofuel access in Florida. $33.5 million for parking in Louisiana.

And this: “Infrastructure projects aimed at expanding and improving truck drivers’ access to safe parking are receiving $292 million in federal funding, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced.”

Everybody wins.